
Making the vast majority of the Nintendo Life team feel excruciatingly old, today sees the tenth anniversary of Nintendo 3DS' release in Europe.
Yes, on 25th March 2011, the 3DS hit western shores for the first time following its Japanese launch a month prior – the North American release came just two days later on the 27th March. It didn't have a killer Nintendo first-party release to drive early sales and launched for a pretty substantial price point ($249.99 in the US), meaning sales weren't as strong as they could have been early on.

Just four months later, in July 2011, Nintendo announced that the 3DS would be receiving a major price cut of around one-third of the original asking price ($249.99 to $169.99). This, along with the summer release of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, helped the console to start building the audience that the tech arguably deserved.
Now, ten years later, we often find ourselves looking back on the 3DS as a truly great Nintendo offering. Surprisingly, it's technically the company's worst-performing handheld console in terms of units sold, but it has some truly incredible games in its library.
Happy tenth birthday, 3DS! Feel free to share your memories of this glasses-free 3D handheld marvel in the comments below.
Comments 35
I still carry my 3DS around, just incase of Street-Pass
And play badge arcade everyday.
My shoulder buttons no longer work and the rubber of the control pad has gone, but still play my Toad 3DS, which I won in a Nintendo Competition back in the day
I love my 3DS still.
10 years ago, damn. I still have my ambassador games on my system too.
The 3DS still is my absolute favorite system of them all.
Still play it on the train. Great system. It obviously sold millions but is still underrated.
This is why in America we know this as V-E Day, for the amazing triumph your region experienced
I find it hard to return to after getting a Switch, but it was a great little system.
Hopefully the Switch will get a library of JRPGs like the 3DS...
Etrian odyssey nexus is only 2 years old! Imagine that!
Feels longer. Anyone else agree?
Cheers to a great system!
"Surprisingly, it's technically the company's worst-performing handheld console in terms of units sold"
Sure, as long as they insist on squeezing two generations of Game Boy into one sales total.😏
I've had mine for about a year and a half now. So glad I got one when I did. Such a brilliant system. Getting to the end of Samus Returns now, and then on to Fire Emblem Echoes!
I got New 3DS XL Europe version Fire Emblem White Black color edition on 8 June 2020, bought from Tokopedia.
I bought the PAL version too after USA and Japan version to play Dillon's Dead Heat Breakers in physical PAL version.
bought the aqua blue one on launch day 10 years ago today. Life got in the way of playing it and i only experienced a handful of games. Now I've much more disposable income, gaming has become a daily activity for me- so bought myself a New 3DS XL a month ago and now got an amazing collection of games and it's like discovering a whole new console all over again.
Currently playing Kid Icarus Uprising.
PS 3D is the best invention ever and I hope it returns one day on a future Switch.
@Bunkerneath #1
Do you still get many streetpass hits?
Got mine at launch, it was a hilarious time because people insisted it would fail. I remember being one of the few people not claiming it was Nintendo's next Virtual Boy, which was always a ridiculous and shortsighted viewpoint. When had Nintendo not supported a handheld, up to that point? You couldn't get people to listen to that logic at the time, though.
Bought mine two weeks ago. I had a DS lite back in the day, kinda stopped gaming for 10 years and got a Switch last year. Especially for JRPGS, but also to catch up on some loved series (Layton, Mario & Luigi) I also got a 3DS, and love it.
@IronMan30 It would have failed if Nintendo had stuck with the $250 price.
@Bunkerneath I still play Badge Arcade everyday too, I don't use the badges, just like collecting them
I've owned one since early 2012! I still occasionally play my two 3DS systems (OG red 3DS and the SNES N3DS XL). Such a robust library, which includes a lot of backwards compatibility with the Nintendo DS and an excellent eShop too!
I still have a backlog of unplayed games for it. It was (still is) a heck of a JRPG machine.
Amazing system and had a tonne of great jrpgs, something I miss with the switch.
I might have to buy one so I can play fantasy life, ever oasis and yo kai watch again as it looks like that will be the only way to play those series again 😔😭
RIP the 3DS. You did good.
Was playing some Luigi’s mansion 2 last night. Finally got round to getting a grip for the New 3DS system and it is night and day! Wish I could get one for the OG 2DS model now....
@Moshugan Every now and then yes, but being on Guernsey there was not many to start off with.
Waitrose was good as they had a streetpass hub thingy, until Nintendo decided to change it so that only Game stores could have them and we dont have one of them over here.
My OG 3DS is still working like a champ. The analog rubber comes off but I can stick it back on. And the stylus doesn't stay in it's spot anymore. But what a great system! I love it, and I've been using it to replay the DS Final Fantasy games
This makes me feel very old for its lik yesterday i bought the console on the day one
Probably the only console withe the best game library ever even better than on nintendo switch. I amjoyed so many games on that system i consider myself as a nintendo fan but i dont know what happened however games on switch does not feels so much good as before
I still have my ambassador unit. On the hand I really liked the 3DS because of the dual screen (which I already liked on the DS), the neat albeit mostly ignored 3D effect and the wide variety of software it featured.
On the other hand the hardware felt outdated pretty fast and the lack of proper analog sticks really hurt the experience for fast games like Monster Hunter, especially if you compare it to something like the Vita which imo has one of the best designs when it comes to a handheld.
Got one at launch, transferred my Ambasador games to my early New 3DS (thank you Nintendo) with the special plates. Got a 2DS XL when they were £120 with three games (incredible deal).
So i have 3 of them. It was a cracking little machine and deserved a hell of alot more third party support than it got (especially western devs). Yet, despite that, it still has a solid library of games. I can play my DS library on it too (usually on the 2DS XL).
i still love my 3ds and 10 years later still gonna love it
Wow. Congrats my little darling friend.
To celebrate I played Mario Kart 7 online with a friend this evening, just like we used to do years ago. Amazing you can still easily play this game online!
@Paperboy indeed!!! I hope you had fun.
Does this news make me feel old? Nope, it makes me feel ancient.
Didn't get my New 2ds XL until the Switch launched. Love it and still play. It introduced me to Fire Emblem - epic.
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